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Tomorrow marks the day the Lebanese judiciary determines the fate and outcome of the legal proceedings against Rami Adwan, the Lebanese Ambassador to Paris, suspected of “rape and physical abuse of two employees within the premises of the Lebanese embassy in Paris.”
According to an informed judicial source contacted by Houna Loubnan, the Attorney General at the Court of Appeal Raja Hamouch “has taken charge of the case and has begun analyzing the administrative and disciplinary investigations conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding Rami Adwan, as well as the parallel investigations launched by the French authorities.”
According to the same source, “the Office of the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation has transferred the report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – containing the summary of the two investigations – to the Office of the Attorney General of Beirut upon receiving the said report so that the necessary steps could be taken.”
As per this source’s intel, the Ambassador in question “no longer benefits from diplomatic immunity, which means that it is no longer necessary to seek authorization from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prosecute him, considering that immunity extends to his diplomatic mission in the country to which he was assigned (France), but does not cover crimes he may have committed, knowing that diplomatic immunity granted by States to diplomats and their families residing abroad is by the Vienna Conventions.”
Other information shared by this source also reveals that “the protection enjoyed by diplomats is limited to their professional activities. In this case, the Ambassador cannot use his immunity for strictly personal purposes.”
The French authorities have also conducted an investigation into Adwan regarding “suspicions of rape and physical violence against two employees of the Lebanese embassy in Paris who filed complaints against him.” Consequently, on June 3, the French government requested the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to lift Adwan’s diplomatic immunity in order to allow the French police to interrogate him.
“The decision to be made by Judge Hamouch will be one of two: either the suspicions are found to be unfounded – thus the case will be suspended, which is highly unlikely – or Rami Adwan is found guilty with supporting evidence. In that case, Judge Hamouch will initiate a trial against him for rape, physical assault, and harassment, and will transfer the case and the trial to the First Investigating Judge in Beirut, so that the diplomat could be interrogated and the necessary judicial warrants for the investigation could be issued.”
According to details obtained by Houna Loubnan, “several factions are exerting pressure on the judiciary to mitigate the repercussions of the case and dilute the impact of the accusations against Rami Adwan, intending to spare the political camp that worked for his appointment as Lebanese Ambassador in the French capital.” However, according to some reports, “this pressure will not yield results, as such suspicions cannot be concealed, and if that were the case, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would have kept the case and refused to submit it to the judiciary, especially considering that the French government is closely following the matter and expects the procedure to progress on the Lebanese side.”
This legal case will not end anytime soon, as the investigation does not solely focus on Rami Adwan. According to the interviewed judicial source, “It is likely that the two employees who filed complaints will be summoned and questioned to ensure that their account matches the one shared with the French police.”
